By Lee Williams
If the Biden-Harris administration continues its unconstitutional war on gun dealers, the local gun shop will become just a faded memory and only big-box sporting goods stores will be able to sell firearms, says Tom Harris, who’s been selling guns from his Lewisville, Texas home for the past 30 years.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recently targeted Harris’ Federal Firearms License for revocation.
His “crime?”
ATF dug up procedural errors from as far back as 2007 to make their current “case” against him, but the ATF had already told Harris he was cleared of these 16-year-old clerical errors, as well as newer ones. And he has letters attesting to this.
Unfortunately, none of that mattered to the ATF inspectors who began persecuting the 61-year-old disabled father of five to satisfy their supervisors’ push for FFL revocations.
“They threw the kitchen sink at me after they cleared me because their bosses weren’t happy with it,” Harris told the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project last month. “They are trying to intimidate me into surrendering my FFL.”
A story published last month revealed that Harris was the latest home-based gun dealer to be targeted by the ATF. Harris and others say the ATF chose to harass and intimidate home-based dealers into voluntarily surrendering their FFLs because they know most lack the financial resources to mount a legal defense and fight back.
“The ATF didn’t follow their own protocols,” Harris said. “Now, they’re making up allegations.”
One of Harris’ longtime customers created a GiveSendGo account, which has raised nearly $20,000, although Harris will likely need much more.
“I’m selling everything at cost to raise funds. I’ve received a very positive reaction from my customers, but the average citizen does not understand what the ATF is doing,” Harris said. “There are thousands of FFLs who have already given up – scared to continue. There will soon be a day when the local gun shop is just a memory, and you’ll have to go to big-box stores to buy a gun – stores who donate to political campaigns, have expensive lawyers, and are owned by holding groups or hedge funds that are not even located in the United States.”
Due process?
Harris will appeal his notice of revocation at an ATF hearing next month. His notice of revocation was signed by Krissy Y. Carlson, ATF’s Director of Industry Operations (DIO) for its Dallas Field Office. Carlson will also oversee Harris’ appeal hearing.
“Her name is on the revocation notice, and she gets to be the judge,” Harris said. “My FFL is up for renewal in April, so even if I win my appeal, they could still deny my application for renewal.”
Harris was told ATF is “freaking out” over the exposure his case has drawn.
“They’re used to ramrodding and rolling right over people,” he said. “ATF’s Dallas office is only 1.4 miles from my house. There are probably some decent people who work there, who have no choice but to drink the Kool-Aid or quit. They’re not quitting.”
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This story is part of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and is published here with their permission.
No, they are not quitting, and they will easily choose their family over yours, their paycheck over yours, and will say they were just doing their job, just like the Notzees at their Hague trials. The Henry Bowman solution gets more attractive every day.
That is a good book.
you forgot to tell the name he sells firearms under i dont have any money to give him but i could push myself to buy something to help him out,I think ive bought from him in the past when i lived near there.
The bullying won’t stop until Gun Control is Defined by Its History for Gun Control History illiterate America.
In the minds of Gun Control History illiterates if you own a firearm much less sell them you are seen in the same light as the Jim Crow Gun Control military wing of the democRat Party known as the kkk viewed Black Americans…or nazis viewed Jews.
All that Harris needs to do, then, is to explain at his hearing that the ATF is being racist against him, as a white man. I’m sure they’ll see the error of their ways and immediately halt the proceedings.
Those poor ATF judges probably have no idea of the history of gun control.
Or perhaps they have another agenda in mind — one that was explained in the article by Harris himself.
RE: no-brain “All that Harris needs to do, then, is to explain at his hearing that the ATF is being racist against him, as a white man. I’m sure they’ll see the error of their ways and immediately halt the proceedings.”
Are you trying to say you want to keep America deaf, dumb and blind about the History of Gun Control? Thanks to Gun talking blowbags like you they are…Take a bow bozo.
Federal or not if the accused sold motor vehicles that can be criminally misused beyond the extent of firearms there would be nothing said. So the obvious keyword is, “Firearms.” And with Firearms comes Discrimination, Tyranny, etc…History Confirms It.
Lots of Gun Control History is tied to what is happening to the “white” FFL. So yes indeed little man…The History of Gun Control needs to be laid on the table for the atf and stick in the muds like you to chew on.
“Are you trying to say you want to keep America deaf, dumb and blind about the History of Gun Control? Thanks to Gun talking blowbags like you they are…Take a bow bozo.”
You don’t need to guess at my meaning — I said what I meant to say. As Yoda opined, “There is no “try.””
I’d be interested — no, let’s make that “amused” — to hear your legal strategy to keep Mr. Harris out of trouble. Giving a history lesson to a bunch of ATF goons won’t help him.
The House of Representatives is the solution since they alone hold the access to financing the BATFE. Cut off every penny and watch the rats desert the sinking ship that is the ATF. Remember the ATF is not mandated by the Constitution, they exist at the pleasure of Congress, which is the problem. Congress is too chicken to define what is allowed, and that’s fine, Congress should just revert back to the 2nd Amendment. All weapons are allowed to every American citizen, regardless of status, and only citizens.
“Unfortunately, none of that mattered to the ATF inspectors who began persecuting the 61-year-old disabled father of five to satisfy their supervisors’ push for FFL revocations.”
Perhaps the public should send that ‘supervisor’ a politely-written note asking them to reconsider such a likely illegal action.
Anybody got an e-mail or other means of contacting this ‘supervisor’?
At LinkedIn (a marxist prog site)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/krissy-carlson-16769426?original_referer=https://duckduckgo.com/
I think to deter these types of things from happening communities need to set up Home Guard Self Defense organizations to confront law enforcement when they are breaking the law by exceeding the scope of warrants that they get from a judge. There is no need for 20 armed to the teeth agents to show up at a dealer’s place of business when a phone call and explanation of a visit would suffice. This is nothing but bullying and intimidation to take care of routine business with someone they have dealt with for years. Perhaps if the 20 agents were met by 100 community members armed to the teeth wanting some answers, they would have second thoughts about how they treat people when they are put in the same position. Communities should protect themselves from illegal acts by law enforcement and push back given the fact that most Federal Law Enforcement agencies have been totally corrupted and weaponized against the American People. When they commit an illegal act, they should be held accountable just as they hold others accountable for obeying the law and that goes for the politicians as well.
“…set up Home Guard Self Defense organizations to confront law enforcement when they are breaking the law by exceeding the scope of warrants that they get from a judge.”
The boogie started at Waco; welcome to the dance, Lou.
An estimated 149,000,000 Gun Owners to <7,000 ATF Agents means we outnumber the Biden Brown Shirts. roughly 40,000:1. Pretty good odds of success on our side, even if they're allowed Automatic Weapons, denied to us.
Even the local PD would think twice before sticking their unwelcome and Unconstitutional presence in.
BB – NOT disagreeing with your basic sentiment but I will have to point out that based on numerous other similar incidents it is highly likely that the bats intentionally didn’t ‘bother’ notifying the local boys in blue. Most recently they ‘backed up’ the eye are ess in a raid where the ‘auditors’ seized all of the 4473s from a dealer. Can anyone guess how out of control that outfit will get when they get the other 87K armed agents?
Is that how it went in Waco,Tx.? Read real history and be afraid!
At this point it is less about how legit it is.
I would NOT recommend ANYONE make their home their place of business when it comes to FFL’s. This is not a wise thing to do. Doing this is just asking for all kinds of trouble. I personally would not be able to justify allowing the ATF into my home anytime they please.
There is one thing that stands out in the gun world, Particular now.
Just because you CAN do a thing (even if it’s completely legal), it does not follow that you MUST do that thing.
I am not defending the ATF by any means but the ATF does have the right to inspect an FFL dealers records as that is part of the cost of doing business. So you can’t have a license and then tell them they can’t come into your house to do their periodic record checks. What is disconcerting is them making an issue out of something that is highly questionable and exceeds the bounds of a legal warrant. You don’t need 20 armed agents to review records and take materials you are not entitled to have. Many federal law enforcement agencies and some local agencies have simply become the American Gestapo and forget they swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the USA. Our current Government does whatever it wants and that is why they get beat in court so frequently because they are lawless.
I agree
Mr. Harris will be pleased to know that after decades of law suits nibbling the edges of winning cases against gun control laws, 2A defenders will have enough little wins to go after NFA/GCA. Meanwhile, don’t stop the carnival.
California has basically outlawed home FFLs by imposing conditions so expensive none will be able to comply. As of January 1, 2024, all FFLs will have to have cameras at all all entrances, showing people coming and going, running 24 hours a day, and backed up for three years. Further recording will be required for all areas where guns are displayed, and any area where transactions occur. As to the latter, the film must show the buyer’s face. Again, 3 year retention is required. These are just some of the requirements, but few if any home FFLs have enough business to justify the cost of compliance.
@Man With No Name
“Giving a history lesson to a bunch of
ATFgovernment goons and politicians won’t help him.”FIFY
The ATF and all lettered agencies need to be deep sixed and start over with a single Federal Law Enforcement agency ran by non government personel
Representatives and Senators, both national and state should be at this hearing and should be lighting up the phone lines of the ATF headquarters in Dallas and Washington. They are they are the only ones that can truly put an end to this. With that said, we the people need to lighting up the phone lines and sending letters/emails to our representatives letting them know about these actions and to call for the ATF to be reigned in. As a resident of Louisiana this hits close to home. I will be contacting my representatives about this and other incidents of ATF overreach. On the flip side, Dan, the other writers, and TTAG need to be sending/printing us accurate and honest stories and information
“…big-box sporting goods stores will be able to sell firearms, says Tom Harris…”
I admire his optimism, though I suspect it is misplaced.
As for the rest of it, maybe they nail him and maybe they don’t. Even if he beats the rap he won’t beat the ride. That’s no different than any other Federal agency that comes after you if you’re not capable of shelling out eight digits of US currency before the decimal on lawyers.
Which is kind of the point of what they’re doing. They bully him into the ground in the hope that other FFLs of his size simply close up shop preemptively to avoid similar treatment.
But hey, some strongly worded letters and maybe a nibble on the edge here or there will fix this, right?
How about if 100 million potg all were to contact their congress critters, state reps. and local pols. Letting them know they are single issue voters. Then actually vote that way. And remember the backstabbing rinos,, seems most people forget by the next election cycle.
How many of them really want to FAFO ?
I firmly agree. If the masses would simply vote the RINO(s) and communists out of office AFTER we mandate nationwide voter ID laws implementation we would all be better off.
What leads you to believe that there are 100 million POTG who actually are single issue voters?
I don’t believe there are. That’s the problem. So many that complain about the gun control vote for idiots or other issues they feel are more important.
Those people need to get over it temporarily on a lot of things. Vote pro gun now even if there are other things about a candidate that are unappealing.
Once our 2A right is gone the only way to get it back IS our 2A right.
A sensible perspective. Apologies for missing the sarcasm in your OP.
That said, might I suggest a slight modification of your thesis?
Trying to make the 2A the issue is unlikely to work because it has a track record of poor results. There’s no particular reason to believe that this would change. I pointed this out in 2015, a GOP win means we might be listened to once other, larger fish are fried. At that time it was the economy that was a major issue.
Today it’s a different set of issues that take center stage.
I would argue that we should, instead of trying to force the issue, take a page from the Left. We should recruit serious pro-2A candidates who do not make that a central plank in their platform but nonetheless hold the position.
The sort of people who will tie pro-2A legislation to must-pass legislation as a rider and do such things constantly. Let the RINOs scream “poison pill” all they want, they merely out themselves by doing this because they don’t scream like that when the Dems do it…
$25B for Ukraine? Sure, just repeal the Hughes amendment. Another $50B for Ukraine? Let’s restructure the ’68 GCA and we’ll talk.
Play hardball like this with properly selected candidates and soon you’ll be talking like Ol’ Joe. “Well, son of a bitch, the law got repealed!”.
“How about if 100 million potg all were to contact their congress critters, state reps. and local pols.”
Assertion/hope based on facts not in evidence. “Gun Owner” ≠ “POTG”/”2A Defender”.
Politicians of both parties (well the overwhelming majority of them) don’t care about the individual voter what they do care about is keeping their grift going, ie. stock trades made on info not available to the general public, patronage/no-show jobs/board seats for family members, and ensuring a constant stream of cash flowing into their political action committees/think tanks/charities, for one party (Republicans) it’s primarily the large corporate interests for the other (Democrats) it’s activist organizations (Democrats) with millions of dollars in their war chests that they, “our betters”, really care about, they don’t give a s**t about us, they never have.
Maybe 500-1000 patriots armed with ARs should show up in Lewisville on his lawn, and tell ATF “Molon Labe Baby.” Per the Pew Pew Jew, “People with ARs don’t climb into cattle cars”….or submit to tyranny.
“ATF’s Dallas office is only 1.4 miles from my house. There are probably some decent people who work there, who have no choice but to drink the Kool-Aid or quit. They’re not quitting.”
“Decent people”? Really? No “decent” person works to strip law-abiding business owners of their livelyhoods, period.
What ATF employees who don’t agree with their agency’s current (and historic) policies are is “selfish pension hogs & petty bureaucrats”, stooges, Bolsheviks with no moral compass, anyone with an ounce of integrity would spend their time targeting actual criminals, become a ” whistleblower” and/or quit.
History is not linear, and instead, it is circular,so on that note,”Welcome Back Brown Shirts”, do you still say “seig heil” to your current leaders?
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